The MovieGoer: April 2008 Archives

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Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 21:02:02

Friday.

Posted by BSR at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

The Tribeca Film Festival opens tonight in Manhattan. Stephen Holden of the New York Times previews the festival in print and with this narrated video. Arkansas Democrat Gazette film critic Philip Martin makes an annual trip to this festival so I'll look for his comments.

Posted by BSR at 06:23 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

The official line-up for the Cannes Film Festival has been announced. In my view, the most intriguing is the Steven Soderberg double-bill "Che" which consists of two films: "Guerilla" and "The Argentine" starring Benicio del Toro as Che Guevara. Clint Eastwood's new film "Changeling" is there as is "Synedoche" from Charlie Kaufman. All three play in competition.

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and Woody Allen's new film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" screen out of competition.

The festival runs from May 14 - May 25.

Posted by BSR at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Sunday, April 20, 2008 - 09:52:26

David Carr of the New York Times profiles Robert Downey, Jr. who takes the lead in "Iron Man" set for release on May 2nd. "When Robert was cast in ‘Iron Man,’ it was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. He was not the obvious choice, but my larger fear was making a mediocre movie; the landscape of the superhero is very picked over. I knew that Robert’s performance would elevate the movie,” says director Jon Favreau.

Posted by BSR at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

The Little Rock Film Festival has announced its 2008 line-up. "War Eagle, Arkansas" was selected as the opening night film. A Charles B. Pierce retrospective hosted by Harry Thomason also highlights the four-day festival.

Posted by BSR at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Sunday, April 13, 2008 - 12:55:31

Here's a link to three new photos of Heath Ledger as the Joker in "The Dark Knight." I'm not sure how long these photos will stay up, but they're pretty chilling.

This is easily my most anticipated movie of 2008. I fully suspect that Ledger's performance will be in line with what co-star Michael Caine said: "Heath's like the most murderous psychopath you've ever seen on the screen.'' That means that we should probably expect an Oscar nomination for Ledger. Only one acting Oscar has been bestowed posthumously: Peter Finch ("Network") in 1976. When Ledger died he generated immediate comparisons to James Dean who was twice nominated posthumously for an Oscar ("East of Eden" (1955) and "Giant" (1956)). He lost both.

Posted by BSR at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

MOVIEGOER REVIEW: SMART PEOPLE

It is not uncommon for films about quirky intellectuals to strike our fancy. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney were brooding smarties in "The Savages," which played late last year. Paul Giamatti was an unaccomplished writer unable to get a novel published in "Sideways." Frustrated high-caliber thinkers were, for decades, staples of Woody Allen's finer works. Max von Sydow, Judy Davis and Mr. Allen himself have played roles of the hyper-cultured unable to co-exist with the less sophisticated world around them. And there's Jeff Daniels, whose performance as Bernard Berkman in "The Squid and the Whale" is the filet of the frustrated smartie.

This is to say that Mr. Quaid has large blazer of Harris tweed to fill as Lawrence Wetherhold in the intelligent and funny “Smart People,” directed by Noam Murro. Lawrence is an English professor at Carnegie Mellon. He's a miserable guy who treats his students and his colleagues with disdain, not to mention failing to adhere to university parking codes. He's raising a daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page), who possesses his intellectual prowess. She too despises those less intelligent, and she doesn't have any friends as a result. Lawrence's son, James (Ashton Holmes), is a promising poet who, unlike Vanessa, appears repulsed by their behavior.

Lawrence gets himself into a fix when he falls while trying to climb a fence. He can't drive so he's left to the company of his adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Hayden Church) to get him from place to place. His doctor, Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), a former student, hasn't seemed to get over her school girl crush and agrees to a night of adult fun with Lawrence that evolves into the film's emotional core.

It's difficult to talk about "Smart People" in a linear fashion because there are so many detours away from the film's central plot. There's an unplanned pregnancy, a poem sold to the New Yorker, a book deal, a college acceptance and relationship that borders on incest. These are each quite interesting, but to explore any one of them in depth would have further muddied the film's salty waters.

But the film still makes its point, well, actually because of Mr. Quaid and Mr. Church who banter around in hilarious fashion like the non-biologically connected brothers that they are. Ms. Page, who destroyed the screen in "Juno" en route to an Academy Award nomination, is a fine addition. She plays a spunky young Republican with ease. But she's a nasty little whiz; she asks her classmates to their faces what it's like to be stupid.

If there's anything expected in "Smart People," it’s that the circumstances they face force them to change, only slightly, to allow them to better cope with the outside world. But the filmmakers don't force them to undergo such drastic changes so as to hide their imperfections. They hold their true nature in tact; a realistic calculation, and a smart one.